WTF ?
First we see the wankers at the Boston Globe stealing my blog name . . . Now the pedophiles bootjacks at the The L.A. Times are doing the same.
C’mon! Get your own f*&%in names!
I may have to follow my readers advice and get the lawyers involved…
Have your IP counsel look into it?
YIKES talk about stealing the show. You better get them while they’re young and can be forced to change the names. that’s just stealing from your google rankings at least.
Good Luck Barry
Is there that much need to worry?. We don’t come here because of the name the site has.
Well, it *is* a common expression, after all.
Not so fast Ritholtz —
http://www.amazon.com/Big-Picture-Kevin-Bacon/dp/6301599659
that is one way to think about the problem. Another would be to change your blog name to “The L.A. Times”.
Another “The Big Picture”
http://www.bigpicweblog.com/exp/index.php/weblog/comments/top_10_arguments_against_obama/
The MSM are on the run. Kick ’em when they’re down. Blogger tasering newspaper is a ‘man bites dog’ story. Let’s call it “The Big Puncture.” Go, Barry, Go!
Sic the lawyers on them. Do it! Do it now! You need to protect your rights!
Try using an original name first.
Why get lawyers involved? They’re newspapers. It’s not like they’re going to be around much longer. Especially the Times.
“The Big Picture” is a very generic term. I can’t imagine you have a case.
Don’t forget this one: http://zachls.blogspot.com/
The Boston Globe deserves to be sued just for not having any comment function anywhere on their site. They are a truly horrific media outlet, not even counting Jeff Jacoby and Peter Canellos.
Also:
An old, cobwebby Art Bell fan site …
http://bigpicture.blogspot.com/
I mean if you consider it the “title” of your blog, you can’t really copyright a title anyway.
You’d have to copyright a logo with it, or make up some service mark or somethin’ Cramerish.
Don’t worry: you’ll be in business longer than they will.
we, your loyal readers, should hit the counterfiets and post comments on their
blogs about them kiping your name…
in fact, I already did one!
There is a business in Seattle with the same name. I took this photo of their cool neon sign.
The Big Picture (Seattle)
Get your assk in gear! The worst that can be come of it is Bratworst! Go Badgers! PS I don’t believe you have a case in court, but the publicity would perhaps safice?
Gotta say Barry that your blog is the best. But can’t see how you can claim rights to a term as widely used as the Big picture.
Barry, sit on your rights at your own peril.
Massachusetts is totally in violation of the DMCA:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMCA
1) Glouster – like – totally stole my idea for the teen pregnancy pact.
2) And Celtic’s “The Truth?” …c’mon, the BLS has got that cornered.
Unfortunately, Patrick Goldstein’s column in the LA Times has been called “The Big Picture” for many years — perhaps longer than Barry’s blog has been in existence. They just carried the title over to his blog.
So it may be hard to make a case against Goldstein or the LA Times.
You probably have a claim for trademark infringement. It’s been a long time since I handled a trademark case, but “The Big Picture” is easily a protectable mark. It’s not generic, it’s suggestive, and suggestive marks are protectable. You should probably register “The Big Picture” on the federal principal register. Of course, you might have a common law trademark infringement claim even without the federal registration, but a Lanham Act claim is 100 times easier. And federal registration would give a cease-and-desist letter a lot more force. Can’t hurt to file an application for registration at least.
Perhaps you should have your lawyer contact the Investor’s Business Daily. They’ve been running a daily column with the title “The Big Picture.”
Barry, I noticed that when you posted those links of the pictures of the Flood…I kept seeing Big Picture on the URL…I must admit I did a double take. 2 blatant rip offs. I say Joke ’em.
Hire some advertising folks, get a new name. “The Big Picture” is too generic to ever be a brand without having tens of imitations.
Your last name sounds unique enough, so go with that one, and you like Kudlow, hence “Ritholtz & Company” …after all I check this blog to hear from your company (commentors) as much as your views.
If you really like the name the big picture, trademark “TBP” and make that your brand like AIG, GE.
There is no such thing as original thought…
“All truly wise thoughts have been thought already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, till they take root in our personal experience.” ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Barry, Big Fan here, but Oh Please, stop whining.
Scoreland has been running their “Big Picture” feature since at least 1998!
http://www.scoreland.com/whatsnew/older_postings/whats_new_archive02.php
“You’d have to copyright a logo with it, or make up some service mark or somethin’ Cramerish.”
Howse about “The Big Picture – Intelligent Financial Thought, unlike Cramer”?
The Real Big Picture ?
The Really Big Picture ?
The Biggest Picture ?
As others have mentioned, “The Big Picture” is a pretty generic term conveying the idea of, well, you know “the big picture” (as the speaker/writer sees it).
It bothers me when a relatively common public generic term like that is sort of “expropriated” and attempted to be made private. Then they howl when others continue to try to use it, in more or less the same fashion it’s been used for years, even decades before that.
In any case, those blogs seem entirely different than yours – one with a largely traditional news focus, and the other focussing on entertainment.
Before I titled my blog (which is obviously far less popular than yours), one of the things I did was to search the web using different phrases I thought made a snappy title. I neither wanted to use a generic, sort of public term, nor potentially infringe on someone elses crafted idea.
I am certain that your blog hasn’t become popular BECAUSE of the title, and if I asked 10 people in my office what “The Big Picture” meant to them, I doubt even one would mention your blog.
Perhaps this might be a good time to relaunch your site, with a suitable original title.
Just my 2 cents.
Jay Walker
The Confused Capitalist
Barry,
Is it just me who thinks that this post was full of sarcasm? The MSM is always claim that bloggers “steal” their material, and now you are just getting back at them?
~~~
BR: yeah, I was being snarky.
Yawn.
yeah frigit.. not like anyone’s gonna be confused about where they’re at
“Now the pedophiles at the The L.A. Times are doing the same.”
Its one thing to bitch about someone “stealing” your name (and I am using the term “stealing” loosely here) and I can even tolerate your irrational rants about Best Buy – but using the word “pedophile” to describe someone… You have officially lost it. Or perhaps you never had it. You were interesting for a while at least…
You are now off my RSS feed….
~~~
BR: Best Buy? That was like years ago.
But aside from Tim (sorry to see you go), I didn’t realize how many people are offended by the word pedophile. I’ll modify it.
Nice to see you nailed down all the ritholtz domain variations :)
So you’re even! You can continue stealing their content, and they can continue stealing your name. (Though if push-comes-to-shove, my money bets they walk away with both.)
What you should really do is sic the LA Times’ lawyers on the Boston Globe. Let’s you and him fight!
I do have to say that I think pedophiles is a bit harsh though.
So, Barry is just one degree of separation from Kevin Bacon?
funny….i had a photography business a decade ago called ‘the big picture’ !!!!!!
FWIW, I think that Jim Puplava was using the “Big Picture” as a name for one segment of his weekly financial program even before bigpicture.typepad.com was around… So there :)
Why not change the name to:
The Pig Bicture
It would be really unique. Most people wouldn’t notice the change, and those who did would simply smile.
wahaha, lawyers involved – good one! Isn’t someone starting to give himself to much prominence? Gosh, f.uck that name, what’s the difference? It doesn’t matter whether there are 1 or 61 big pictures – I’ill subscribe only those, which I’m interested in. DB, stick to what you are good at and don’t make a fool of yourself by getting into those childish (i’m 18 years old and even to me it’s ridiculous) things.
anyway, great blog, keep it that way! Greetings from Lithuania.;]
And those boyz in the MSM wonder why their Circulation is falling..
They haven’t had an original Idea in years..
Shakespeare may have the relevant thought for this situation, if it begins to cause confusion(unlikely):
“A Rose by any other Name…”
Obviously, I keep your site bookmarked @ home/office, but on the road, I google “The Big Picture” and find you first. the Globe and the Times will both work to dislodge you from the top of the searches. I’d try to stop them.
It is an easy decision BR. What would THEY do to you if you had no imagination and no readership and stole THEIR name? Do likewise.
Oh come on. “Big Picture”? Barry, as much as I like your blog, your title is hardly original.
More newsworthy than newspapers in LA deciding on the same unoriginal title, would be a blogger attempting to claim ownership of the phrase “Big Picture”. Now *that* would be absurd.
Move along. Nothing to see here.
I’d agree with everybody else that you should lawyer up, but also you’d have a snowball’s chance in hell in getting them to drop the name.
But the resolution should be interesting – like Stav said, you are tops in google searches, you might make a deal with them to “own” certain keywords so you’ll always be a top 3 hit.
You know the law better than all of us here Barry. Those sites are not financial sites. The Boston Globe’s blog is literally about really big photographs and the LA Times is about the film industry. You might be able to sue them for lack of originality, but not much else.
Actually it is cool to see big main stream media trying to blog. At least we’re going to get some quality journalism back on the web. Independent and smart bloggers like you Barry are very, very rare. Ninety percent of the blogosphere is pure crap.
Barry, a daily reader here, but will not be as neutral as usual this time.
If I’d give you an advice regarding your naming issue : register “TBP” as a trademark and have a decent domain name, the “bigpicture.us” or “tbp.us” kind. Both are for sale.
Trademarks and domain names have efficient regulators, you might use them instead of lawyers.
Your slightly self-indulgent posts are becoming too often : whether your own private mental bubble is inflating, whether you are unsecure about your online business. In both cases, fix it, and go back to basics (Or you’better directly sign up for a Jim Cramer franchise)
But frankly, we, as your audience, would rather not see our attention diverted macro matters. TBP is cheap on the educational side, it still misses Q&As, FAQs and forums, there is a lot in the queue for your upcoming business.
Hang on, we want TBP so much!
Wait for it, they’ll probably sick their lawyers on you for infringement if you sit on your hands too long.
yeah, you should totally sue, cause you invented the term “big picture”
just like i invented the trademark “outside the box”
but people steal my idea all the time!
You probably could have gotten a trademark, if it were narrowly construed, i.e., limited to a website that discusses financial issues.
You may still be able to get one.
As it happens, there are already trademarks for “The Big Picture”.
See the following Trademark registration numbers:
3097347, 3123513, 2853081, 2766447, and 2659290
There’s probably room for another.
Hi Barry,
Thanks again for a great site, from another recovering attorney.
Do you know the difference between a dead snake in the road, and a dead attorney?
There are skid marks in front of the snake!
Re: “The Big Picture” moniker, trademarks etc.
First, it is my understanding that most book titles (now to include website titles?) cannot be trademarked.
Second, “The Big Picture” phrase is so well known and used (and has been for decades/centuries) that I question whether you are really serious in attempting to claim it is “yours!” Get Real!
Third, is it possible that whoever was first in line gets to have “The Big Picture” for his or her self’s use?
See link above with first posting dated 8/30/01 and:
http://stockcharts.com/commentary/archives/cww20020720h.html
Chip Anderson of SCC posted a comment on my public list shortly after it’s 8/30/01 initial posting (and before 9/11/01 as I recall), but his commentary in the SCC newsletter archives appears to have dropped out of their database.
Anyway, no big deal but the bragging rights to “The Big Picture” moniker is a fool’s game IMO.
Feel free to swing out.
Cheers,
Peter
Leading french newspaper” Le Monde” has a permanent correspondant in the US, and the name of her new blog is.. well, you guessed it.
Here is the website’s adress : http://clesnes.blog.lemonde.fr/
at least there is no “big picture” in the URL !
I would not do a thing. Your site will come up when someone searches for the story they read on the other sites and all they can remember about it is ‘Big Picture.’ I actually think that is how I found your sight over a year ago and now I read it every day.
You might stand a chance in a lawsuit if the other publications were econ-oriented. They’re not. One’s about photos, the other’s about Hollywood. It’s like multiple publications called Rolling Thunder: one about motorcycles, another about bowling, and another about weather. All can coexist without infringing on one another.
Expect to spend hundreds of thousands on attorney’s fees with limited chance of success.